When the news broke on the weekend that Goldman Sachs is paying $5 billion dollars in bonuses on the back of “profits” made from an American tax-payer funded bailout and in the wake of fraud charges that may well presage the shaking of the industry, I was in awe.

Evidently Trevor Zinck has discovered a unique method for helping solve the poverty problem in Nova Scotia. In a phone interview this morning, he indicated that he was kicked out of the provincial NDP caucus because he, as well as a dozen or so other backbenchers are unhappy that as the government the NDP are not doing enough about poverty. What actions he expects the party to take out on the remaining “concerned dozen” he leaves unsaid. As for poverty, well it’s all quite clear now what exactly happened with Trevor Zinck and Scott Marshall’s credit card – he was gambling with it and intended to hand over all of the winnings to Mr. Marshall, for surely he would win.

When you think about it, it’s a brilliant scheme – promote gambling among the poorest in the province and use the winnings to elevate them from poverty. The only way you could possibly improve such a brilliant scheme is if you use local government-controlled casinos, gambling machines and lotteries. Oh wait…

Judging from the “outcome” of the Nova Scotia MLA expense scandals of the past months it’s evidently difficult to get someone stripped of office for mere theft of the taxpayer’s purse. It will be interesting to see what happens if the allegations that Trevor Zinck stole from a specific taxpayer bear out.

If this story is true, Zinck might be one of the biggest douchebags to ever win a seat in a province that has seen the likes of King of Thieves John Buchanan and Gerald Regan the sex kitten.